How do I keep a user from changing the desktop background?

SamEB · Nov 21, 2012, 06:48 AM

Our department shares a computer and someone keeps changing the desktop background, with weird sayings that don't make sense and are also inappropriate.

Is there a way to disable Desktop and Screensavers in System Preferences but nothing else? Unfortunately we need access to everything else but that.
I changed the permissions on com.apple.desktop.plist but the background can still be changed through System Prefs.

Johnny Vegas · Nov 21, 2012, 09:09 AM

You can remove the system preference by moving/deleting the prefPane file found at:
HDD -> System -> Library -> PreferencePanes -> DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane

However a user can still change the background by right-clicking on an image. Locking the .plist file will at least reset the background every time the computer logs on. If you have access to OS X server, there are ways to lock the background using Work Group Manager.

~JV

SamEB · Nov 21, 2012, 09:21 AM

Thanks. I removed it from System Prefs. At some point I also made it so that you can't right-click a picture on our computer to change the background, so that option is gone.
Now the only way I can see for anyone to change it is to right-click a photo online.

The account is local, so I can't change it in WGM.

Nov 21, 2012, 06:48 AM	#1
SamEB macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2012	How do I keep a user from changing the desktop background? Our department shares a computer and someone keeps changing the desktop background, with weird sayings that don't make sense and are also inappropriate. Is there a way to disable Desktop and Screensavers in System Preferences but nothing else? Unfortunately we need access to everything else but that. I changed the permissions on com.apple.desktop.plist but the background can still be changed through System Prefs.
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Nov 21, 2012, 09:09 AM	#2
Johnny Vegas macrumors newbie Join Date: Jul 2011	You can remove the system preference by moving/deleting the prefPane file found at: HDD -> System -> Library -> PreferencePanes -> DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane However a user can still change the background by right-clicking on an image. Locking the .plist file will at least reset the background every time the computer logs on. If you have access to OS X server, there are ways to lock the background using Work Group Manager. ~JV
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Nov 21, 2012, 09:21 AM	#3
SamEB Thread Starter macrumors newbie Join Date: Mar 2012	Thanks. I removed it from System Prefs. At some point I also made it so that you can't right-click a picture on our computer to change the background, so that option is gone. Now the only way I can see for anyone to change it is to right-click a photo online. The account is local, so I can't change it in WGM.
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